As a Russian company used to working in the thorny markets of the post-Soviet world, MTS hoped it would be immune from the shakedowns that have hit other companies operating in Uzbekistan. The Russian telecoms giant, however, has been forced to write hundreds of millions of pounds of cash and assets off its balance sheet after the ruthless pursuit of its Uzbek arm.
The criminal case, which involved over 60,000 pages of evidence, was heard in just two weeks, while the separate case that stripped MTS of its operating licence took just 14 minutes. Chaos ensued as millions of people across the country were left with non-functioning SIM cards. "I have worked in Russia and across the region since 1988 and I have seen a lot of things but I have never seen anything quite like this," said Mr Kozin.
